political perspectives from Joni Hudson-Reynolds, an African-American Mom

Do the Obamas Love Themselves A Little Too Much?

George Will wrote an article today for the Washington Post entitled An Olympic Ego Trip. In it he criticizes the president and his wife for the speeches they delivered to the Olympic committee regarding the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics. Will said “both Obamas gave heartfelt speeches about . . . themselves. Although the working of the committee’s mind is murky, it could reasonably have rejected Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Games on aesthetic grounds — unless narcissism has suddenly become an Olympic sport. In the 41 sentences of her remarks, Michelle Obama used some form of the personal pronouns “I” or “me” 44 times. Her husband was, comparatively, a shrinking violet, using those pronouns only 26 times in 48 sentences. Still, 70 times in 89 sentences conveyed the message that somehow their fascinating selves were what made, or should have made, Chicago’s case compelling.” *I initially thought that Will was completely off base, but I had to really look at the point he was trying to make. Barack and Michelle Obama are symbolic of what is good about America. They are proof positive that if you set goals and work hard you can achieve the impossible. They both have freely shared their stories on the campaign trail and their life history has been covered extensively by major media. Now they risk the backlash of familiarity. Even when someone has a life story that is incredible if you have heard dozens of times it starts to lose its impact. I believe the Obamas mission was to do a good thing for the country and I do not believe narcissism cost Chicago the games, but I do believe the Obamas now need to become more selective in sharing their stories because by now we along with the rest of the world have heard it.